Jisan Anna Thorn lives at Green Dragon Temple and is the current guest program manager at Green Gulch. Born and raised in Germany, she graduated from college as a teacher for German literature and politics. She also graduated as a metal designer from an Arts and Craft College in Cologne and had a career as a jewelry designer in the '80s.

Searching for a deeper understanding of reality and the possibility of living a communal life in harmony with environmental values, Anna joined Green Gulch in 1995, where she met her root teacher, Tenshin Reb Anderson. She spent several years at Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery and studied according to Dogen's suggestions. From 1998-2011 she lived with her former husband Jordan Thorn at City Center and practiced there in a number of senior staff positions, including serving as director from 2008-11. Having received priest ordination from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 2003, she was shuso (head monk) in 2007 with former abbot Ryushin Paul Haller. For the last 10 years she has studied with former abbess Kiku Christina Lehnherr, who is now her primary teacher.